Spotlight Non-profit: On a mission to accelerate Latino readiness for STEM jobs of the future

Spotlight Non-profit: On a mission to accelerate Latino readiness for STEM jobs of the future

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LatinaLista — While it’s true that Latinos now comprise the largest share of high school drop outs, it’s also true that this translates into a huge loss for the future of the American workforce.

Among these students who are quitting on school are boys and girls who, if given some encouragement and early intervention, could be tomorrow’s scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.

Listo America, a new nonprofit wants to ensure that Latinos and Latinas hold those kinds of jobs, otherwise known as STEM jobs.

The organization identifies three critical areas that point to the urgency in getting Latinos educated to assume these positions:

1.The looming retirement of the “Baby Boomer” population — the people who make up the bulk of STEM jobs now.

2. The fact that most jobs in the 21st-century workforce will require a STEM-based background and also the ability to do critical thinking.

3. Latinos continue to be the fastest growing segment of our country’s population and yet continue to be significantly underrepresented in STEM-based education and occupations.

Listo America will work with educators to identify best practices in creating STEM educational programs, share the ideas on their web site, implement them and work with educators in identifying promising STEM students to give them the guidance and mentoring they need to pursue a STEM career.

However, above all, Listo America has one overriding objective:

ListoAmerica will attempt to bring all the programs and efforts together to ACCELERATE Latino readiness in STEM for our 21st Century workforce to keep America strong and competitive.